June Garden Guide

June is the start of winter. We are heading into the coldest time of the year, so generally most veges sown/planted now will make very slow progress. But there is still plenty to get on with!

If you are north facing and have free draining soil, you have the best chance of succeeding with any late plantings. Make sure your garden has at least 6 hours of sun before doing any planting.  Even so, growth will be VERY slow. South facing gardens and those in deep valleys shouldn't plant anything anymore. Wait til August/September. 

However the alliums love to be planted now as do fruit trees. Read on!

In the Vege Garden

Sow

• Onions, anytime between now and the middle of August. Red onions do better sown earlier  rather than later. Sow into trays.

• banana shallots

Direct Sow

• miner's lettuce, rocket, mizuna, tatsoi - all small leaved greens which don’t need so much solar energy to grow - but do protect from slugs and snails!

Plant (note cautions above)

• Potatoes ( well sprouted and with frost protection)

• Globe artichokes (seedlings)

• Jerusalem artichoke (dormant tubers)

• Yacon

• Lettuce (cool season varieties such as Cos, Little Gem, Tom Thumb, perella montpellier)

• Endives and escarole

• Silverbeet

• Spring onions

• Asparagus crowns

• Pak Choy

• Strawberry Plants: Time to plant new strawberry plants: don’t leave it too late! May is actually the best time. Either use healthy plantlets from runners in your garden or a friend’s, or purchase potted plants. Prepare the bed very well with plenty of compost. Strawberry plants hate wet feet and appreciate a mounded bed. Mulch well. Keep plants that have had one fruiting season. They will be even better next summer, BUT: Clean them up, feed and mulch. Remove weeds and runners as they will crowd them out. GET RID OF ANY PLANTS THAT ARE OVER TWO YEARS OLD. They will encourage disease, and their crowns will get overcrowded, producing small, low quality fruit next summer. 

  • Remove flowers on all your new and one-year old strawberry plants right through to end of August.

• Berry canes such as raspberry and blackberry

• Garlic (if you dare-rust is still around)

• Shallots (these seem to be rust resistant, and very rewarding)

Harvesting

• Cut cabbages from the stem and cut a cross into the stump- four baby cabbages will grow and they will be ready in about 8 weeks.

• When harvesting brocolli, leave a few leaf nodes on the fat stem supporting the brocolli head, they will eventually sprout new florets for a second and third crop.

• Cut older silver beet leaves first, they will get leaf spot in wet weather. If they already have leaf spot, remove those leaves, feed to chooks.

Other Tasks 

• Take hardwood cuttings eg fig trees, feijoas

• Divide and replant rhubarb (every 2-3 years)

• Lift your dahlia tubers if the growth has completely died back, especially if you have wet soil, to stop them from rotting. Store in sawdust/potting mix.

• Tarp new garden areas with strong black plastic, well weighted down,  to kill off kikuyu ready for planting in October

• If you have bare areas of the garden that won't be needed for a few months, protect the soil and either cover them with mulch or even better sow a green manure of field peas and/or tick beans which don’t mind the cold. 

• Start planning your summer garden! Sort out your seeds, borrow books from the library, go to workshops, learn online and dream!

Watch out for

• Slugs and snails

• Avoid working on wet soil; above all don't walk on wet garden beds- stick to the paths. 

In the Orchard

• Leave any pruning now until late winter/early spring, (July-August) best time is just before bud break. Stonefruit first, if not already summer pruned, as they flower first. Then pears, and apples last.  ALWAYS ON A DRY DAY.

• Plan and choose fruit tree varieties (planting in July/August) 

• prep the soil well

• pay attention to having the correct pollinators and rootstock 

• pay special attention to giving trees adequate space in our humid climate 5m for stonefruit, 3-5 m for pip fruit depending on rootstock, 2-3 m for citrus depending on variety

• organise mulch to have on hand after planting 

• You can plant bare rooted and containerised trees all the way through winter

• You can prune if all leaves have dropped but better to leave until July